Hands on with Samsung’s two sharpest additions to the Galaxy Tab line

NEW YORK CITY—Samsung unveiled a pair of new Galaxy Tab Ses at an event Thursday evening at Madison Square Garden. The 10.5-inch and 8.4-inch tablets have the same resolution display and take their design cues from the recently released Samsung Galaxy S 5.

Both tablets have a 2560x1600 Super AMOLED display, the largest AMOLED that Samsung has produced so far. This gives the 10.5-inch model a pixel density of 288ppi and the 8.4-inch model one of 359ppi. This bests the two sizes of Apple's iPads, which have resolution densities of 264ppi in the iPad Air and 326ppi in the iPad mini.

Inside, the Wi-Fi-only (LTE "later") tablets have an eight-core Exynos chipset—a 1.9Ghz quad-core chip plus a 1.3GHz quad-core chip—and 3GB of RAM. The available storage options will start at 16GB of storage with a microSD card slot. An 8-megapixel camera is embedded in the back, along with a 2.1MP camera in the back.

Like the Samsung Galaxy S 5, the tablets have dimpled backs and metal frames. During the presentation, Samsung paid extra attention to its gold-accented white versions, though the tablets will also be available in "titanium bronze." The ten-inch version of the Tab S weighs 1.01 pounds, while the 8.4-inch is 0.63 pounds. The larger-sized tablet operates off of a 7900 mAh battery, while "Tab S the Smaller" has a 4900mAh one.

The tablets both feel extremely slim and light, and the finish of the metal edges gives them a polished look. The patterned back takes away a bit from the refined feel, but since it's a plastic rubber, it seems more for function (namely, grip) than form. Both the titanium and white models have pearlized finishes on their backs and screen bezels, as if they've been dusted with metal.

The screen is meant to the be the Tab S' defining feature, and the finished product is extremely crisp. Like Samsung products before it, the screens have extremely vibrant colors, a visible difference from the iPad minis that were set up for comparison to the smaller Tab S model. Without real-life scenes for comparison, it's difficult to say which model's screen is truer, but Samsung's tendency to emphasize color and contrast appeals to some consumers.

In addition to its hardware, Samsung also introduced a new app to work with Samsung Galaxy S 5s, dubbed Sidesync. Sidesync can present a virtual version of a Galaxy S 5's screen on a Tab S over Wi-Fi, allowing users to interact with it and complete tasks like answering calls or transferring files. Samsung also announced a "content partnership" with Conde Nast (which happens to own this site) to fill Samsung's magazine-reading app Papergarden.

The Wi-Fi-only, 16GB models will start at $399 for the 8.4-inch and $499 for the 10.5-inch. Those models will be available starting in July in the US, while Samsung said that the LTE versions would follow.

The 10.5-inch white Samsung Galaxy Tab S.

Note the pearlized finish on the back; both the black and white models have this.

A tiny press-in panel meant to accommodate accessory stands.

The 8.4-inch Tab S, slightly more palmable by comparison.

A Tab(le) full of Tab S.

It's difficult to show the screen quality through a photo, but the Tab S has a very detailed and vibrant display.

An iPad mini/Tab S comparison; photos on the iPad tend to be more muted and with less contrast.

Another (angled) comparsion; the Tab S, on the right, appears brighter than the iPad mini on the left.

Casey Johnston
Casey Johnston is the former Culture Editor at Ars Technica, and now does the occasional freelance story. She graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Applied Physics. Twitter@caseyjohnston